2008 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts Hobby Box Break

When I bought the Sweet Spot tin that I used for the free group break, that wasn’t all that I ordered from Dave & Adam’s Card World. I also bought a hobby box of 2008 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts (and some other stuff that you’ll see later). I’ve become a big fan of Legendary Cuts, and I consider it to be one of my favorite products of 2008. I was unenthusiastic about it when was first released, mostly because for about $100 per box, the chances aren’t even good that you’ll pull an autograph. In a 16-box case, there are only 3 cut signatures and 2 regular autographs.

Then, one night in July, I watched a guy open a box of Legendary Cuts at my local hobby store. Yes, he got a cut signature (Charlie Gehringer), but I was really impressed with the design of the base cards and the relic cards. In my opinion, it was one of the best card designs of 2008. I have read a few people saying that the 2008 version wasn’t as good as in previous years, but since I wasn’t collecting, I’m only judging 2008 Legendary Cuts against the other card releases from 2008. And in that group, it looks very good.

So after seeing the cards in person that night, I picked up a box at a card show in August. That was before I started doing video box breaks. I didn’t get a cut signature, or an autograph, but I still loved the cards. And after all, I think that liking the cards should be at least as important of a factor as trying to get a great “hit” when deciding to buy a box of cards.

Anyway, when I saw hobby boxes of Legendary Cuts selling for $90 at Dave & Adam’s in December, I couldn’t resist buying another box. I figured that I’d try my luck in pulling a cut signature (which I have never pulled in my life) or at the very least, I’d get some great looking cards to help me build a set.

Here’s the video of the break (which I filmed back on December 19):

Here’s the breakdown of what I got:

41 base cards (out of 100 in the set). After two hobby boxes (and after trading some cards from the first box) I have 68 of the 100 cards.

So that’s 52 cards from a box with 12 packs containing 4 cards each. The relic cards must be considered “extra” cards. The 8 packs that didn’t contain them all included one thick decoy card.

Here’s a look at a couple of the base cards. For a change, I’ll feature players who aren’t on the Rays: Tim Lincecum (I already sent Bailey the Lincecum from my other box) and Nick Markakis (one of my favorite non-Rays):

As I said, I love this card design. The color face picture and the black and white action shot look great together. The color picture actually has a glossy finish to it too, while the rest of the card does not, so it almost jumps off the card at you. I love the font too. I think that this is by far the best Upper Deck card design of 2008. The only thing that I would change is that the same face picture is used on the back of the card. If Upper Deck used a different photo on the back, the cards would be even better.

Here’s the Brooks Robinson short print. With there only being one of these per box, it would be very difficult to collect them all:

I was happy to get a relic of Grady Sizemore, one of the best all-around players in baseball:

This Todd Helton card is heading to Larry (lwc4ut on YouTube). He’s a Helton collector who’s been very generous to me in the past.

Here’s Orlando Cepeda, one of the least-worthy Hall of Famers. He’s a lot like Jim Rice, who I’m really hoping doesn’t get voted in next week:

There’s something behind the fabric that feels like some sort of wire. You can see the outline of it in the scan. Does anyone have any idea of what it is?

And lastly, here’s Ron Santo, who definitely should be in the Hall of Fame but is not, with Aramis Ramirez:

Due to the color of the Ron Santo relic piece, I originally thought that it was a bat, but it’s actually a piece of fabric (from a jersey or pants).

The bottom line is that I’d definitely recommend Legendary Cuts if you’re in the market for a good mid-range product. The cards look great, you’re guaranteed at least 4 good “hits” per box, and you’ve got a chance at a great cut signature. All of that comes at a reasonable price that’s well below the high-end products. Now that I think about it, this would be an ideal product for a group case break.

I actually just filmed another box break today, and I pulled two amazing cards. So stay tuned to the blog and my YouTube channel for that as soon as I get around to uploading it the video!

I went a lil crazy when this first came out and made I got every Jeter dual relic from this set. I bought six of them off eBay because according to Beckett’s checklist at the time, there were only six.

Then, I bought a hobby box and ended up getting a Jeter/Reggie Jackson dual relic, which wasn’t listed in Beckett. Talk about lucky.

Looking back on 2008 this was probably one of the better boxes I opened. That being said, I actually got the box for free, and I don’t know if I would have purchased one otherwise.

I did actually get pretty lucky in that I pulled the 1 per case hit of a YSL Relic of Thurman Munson. The nicest part about that is the fact that it didn’t replace one of the other cards, so I ended up with 5 “hits” in my box.

If I had bought the box, I would have a few beefs with it though.

1. Due to the fact that the relic cards are your only “guaranteed hits”, I thought the over-abundance of single color jerseys and bat relics was a bit lazy on UD’s part. There are enough of those in base UD products that I think they could stepped it up a bit for a $100 mid-level product.

2. If this product is really supposed to highlight the “Legendary” players throughout history, I don’t think the “base” relics should have been included. I believe one of mine was Howie Kendrick. No offense to Mr. Hendrick and his family, but I would hardly consider him legendary. I was expecting all of the relics to be the serial #’d Legendary Memorabilia cards or the Generations duals (which I like, but for some reason are not #’d).

3. Even some of the Legendary Memorabilia cards were a bit of a letdown. I’ve seen several on eBay that were #’d to 15 or less, and contained a plain white or gray jersey/pants swatch. Yet the same player #’d to 99 has at least a pinstripe. I consider this to be “artificial” scarcity, and I chalk it up to more laziness and poor planning by UD. I don’t believe there were even any Patch pieces included in the product.

4. Lastly, even though I got one, I think the YSL Relics are a bit lacking. Being that they are the most rare card you can get from a case, I just don’t think they look that great, and this was reflected by the $10-40 selling prices I’ve seen. Just seems kinda low for a “case hit”.

All ranting aside, I do agree with you Dave in that this is probably one of the nicest base card designs this year. The color headshots look almost 3-D, and they really pop out from the rest of the card. Let me know which base you still need, and I’ll see if I have them.

P.S. – Dave, I’ll try to practice a little more brevity in future comments. I guess I’m just in a ranting mood today 🙂

Hey i have that Tim Lincecum card that u have pictured, except mine is autographed. How much do you think something like that is worth. lincecum autographed cards are going for a lot on Ebay. i just want to price it out.